


melting

by OverlyCheerfulRat



Category: Ever After High, Monster High
Genre: Biracial Character, Burns, Chronic Illness, Disfigurement, Gen, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Implied Relationships, Scars, cystic fibrosis, ship tease but only in korean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-02-23 09:56:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23009686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OverlyCheerfulRat/pseuds/OverlyCheerfulRat
Summary: Dexter's never met anyone who isn't revolted by his scars until now.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 57





	melting

**Author's Note:**

> ok so i headcanon jackson and holt as half english and half korean just for the record. also holt is gay but it's not relevant to the story i just wannt you to know that. also bedwetting/urinary incontinence can be a side effect of cystic fibrosis but again it isn't relevant, jackson just likes to be a little bitch.

Dexter was not in the family pictures.

Articles about his father's business empire occasionally mentioned his children Daring and Darling, and even more occasionally noted that Darling had a twin brother who suffered third-degree facial burns as a child. 

New Salem was a new start for them, a town with monsters and humans. "Everyone there looks different," their mother explained. "Your scars won't stand out at all." 

She was immediately proven wrong when he walked into the new school, when he heard the whispers, when the teachers grimaced to look at his face. After the third muttered "what happened to him?" in one class, Dexter stood up and left the room, slamming the door behind him and running out the first door he saw. 

Behind the school, he sat against the wall and pulled his knees to his chest, breathing shallowly until someone nudged him. He jerked away and whipped his head up, instinctively trying to cover the scars with his hands. A short and very confused-looking monster boy was staring at him, and he didn't flinch when he saw the scars.

"What are you doing out here?" His voice was slightly raspy, and he had a British accent, Dexter noted. He looked kind of sick, if the circles under his eyes and skeletal wrists were anything to go by- but then, he also had blue skin and red eyes, so maybe it was just a monster thing.

"People were talking about my..." Dexter gestured to his face, and the boy nodded, sitting down next to him.

"What's your name?"

"Dexter. I just moved here."

"Welcome to the worst town in the worst country in the world. I'm Holt." He didn't say anything else, just fidgeted with his eyebrow ring, and Dexter finally cleared his throat awkwardly.

"What are you doing outside, then?" Holt looked confused by the question, as if it wasn't the middle of fourth period. 

"I couldn't breathe," he responded, which didn't make sense, but he sounded so confident that Dexter let it go. Later, during lunch, he would show Dexter how to climb onto the roof from a bathroom window, something they both knew they could get suspended or expelled for.

"You're gonna get me kicked out on my first day," Dexter told Holt drily, and got a grin in response. His teeth were dangerously sharp.

"My brother'd kill me if he found out," he answered lightly. "Jackson thinks I'm fragile." 

"Are you?"

"I might be."

That weekend, Dexter found himself spending the night at Holt's house, where his brother seemed equal parts amused and concerned by his being there. He hadn't flinched at the scars either, but he had looked Dexter up and down before asking Holt something in Korean ("Dangsin-eun geuwa segseuleulhago issseubnikka?") that made the shorter boy turn red.

It was actually the first sleepover Dexter had ever been to, and he thought it went well, although Jackson snickered when he saw them curled up on the couch together, taking in the casual way Holt was resting his head on Dexter's shoulder. "Geulaeseo dangsin-eun badag-ibnida. Geuneun dangsin-i chimdaeleul jeogsineun geos-eul algo issseubnikka?" he said to Holt, then glanced at Dexter and clarified, "I was just saying you seem pretty close for people who just met a few days ago."

(Holt, for his part, turned red again and snapped, "Naneun pul-eob-eul ib-eul geos-ida. Dangsin-eun geugeos-i nae jalmos-i anilaneun geos-eul anda!")

In the middle of the night, Dexter woke up alone. Someone was apparently hacking up a lung in the bathroom, and when he went to see what was wrong he found Holt leaning over the sink, coughing up truly alarming amounts of blood. Jackson was hovering behind him nervously, and when he saw Dexter he attempted an awkward smile. "This happens all the time," he said unhelpfully.

When Holt finally stopped coughing, Jackson helped him back into the living room where he and Dexter had been sleeping, still looking worried, and turned to the other human. "Did he tell you he's sick?" 

"No. I- should I call an ambulance?"

Jackson shook his head. "Cystic fibrosis. There's not really anything a doctor can do about it." Seeing the expression on Dexter's face, he quickly added, "Holt's not dying anytime soon, don't worry. He's just..."

"I'll die when I'm thirty, probably," Holt chimed in weakly, prompting Jackson to hit him upside the head.

None of them ever mentioned the sleepover or cystic fibrosis again, although Dexter never stopped being concerned when Holt started vomiting blood for no reason. Daring muttered that he could have done better in the friend department, but even if Holt was very loud and occasionally passed out with little warning, he never asked about or flinched away from Dexter's scars.

**Author's Note:**

> translations (according to google translate bc i'm too fucking stupid to learn korean)
> 
> "Dangsin-eun geuwa segseuleulhago issseubnikka?" = "Are you having sex with him?"  
> "Geulaeseo dangsin-eun badag-ibnida. Geuneun dangsin-i chimdaeleul jeogsineun geos-eul algo issseubnikka?" = "So you're the bottom. Does he know you wet the bed?"  
> "Naneun pul-eob-eul ib-eul geos-ida. Dangsin-eun geugeos-i nae jalmos-i anilaneun geos-eul anda!" = "I'll wear a pull-up. You know it's not my fault!"


End file.
